I write a lot. I knew writing was a part of ministry, but I don’t think I realized just how much writing I’d be doing when I went off to seminary. It’s one of those things “they” don’t tell you, and you figure out along the way. Granted, I suspect I write more than many of my colleagues, if for no other reason than I write these ramblings week after week. Even so, ministry means putting pen to paper, or these days, finger to keyboard. What’s interesting is that I now have a nerdy set of statistics on my writing.

Back in February, I downloaded a piece of software called Grammarly. It’s a web-based spelling and grammar tool, not unlike what word processing software uses to do the same. Grammarly has a bit more power when it comes to grammar and making recommendations about word choice or phrasing. It’s much smarter than Microsoft Word’s built-in checker by comparison. Since I do most of my writing in a hurry, having some help with punctuation, spelling, and grammar is beneficial. The software automatically scans my emails, anything I type on the web, text messages I send from my computer, and any documents I cut and paste into the desktop module. I also get periodic reports on my usage.  

For example, as of today, I crossed the 250,000-word mark since I started using Grammarly. That means in about four months, (I was away and not writing on my computer for more than a month since February), I have written the equivalent of five hundred single-spaced pages of text. And that doesn’t count everything I’ve written. Because the module that embeds in Word hasn’t worked for my Mac version of the software, Grammarly hasn’t registered all of my writing. I can manually use it for text I copy over from a Word document, but I don’t always do that. Given this reality, I wonder how close to one million words I might get in twelve months? I average 15-16,000 words a week, again, not counting all of the Word documents I create. My highest week using Grammarly was apparently this past week at 21,775 words!

Grammarly tells me I’m more productive than 95% of their nearly seven million daily users. I also apparently use a more extensive vocabulary than 97% of users, with 2,616 unique words used (I believe that’s cumulative).  Now, I don’t rate as high on accuracy, (only 40th percentile this week), and I think I know why. One, I write quickly. I am often getting words on the screen as fast as possible while I’m processing the sentence or the thought, or taking notes in a meeting, knowing that I will go back to edit later. I also tend to skip certain articles when I’m not writing in a narrative style. I get “gigged” on commas and periods, because of speed and the fact that not all of my writing is done in complete sentences (hence no periods!). The software doesn’t know exactly what I’m writing and why, so it is always evaluating whether everything is in the place my tenth grade English teacher may have expected it to be.  

I suppose all of this means I am loquacious (hello, 2,617th word!). I am certainly a lover of words. Words matter a lot to me, perhaps because I read and write so many of them. Semantics matters to me as well; not just the common or intended meaning of words, but the significance of them and how they are used. I notice particular words and try to establish why a particular word might have been chosen and whether there is more than one interpretation intended. This is, no doubt, why I enjoy learning other languages and puns. In both cases, words often mean multiple things at the same time. Words, therefore, must be used carefully and thoughtfully. We could all stand to measure our words more carefully and also take care as we judge the words of others. We’re in an era where words are indeed being used to convey multiple meanings, and also used as weapons to send messages to those with ears to hear.  Sometimes hearing the intent behind the language is not as easy as we might assume, which is why Jesus made similar comments.  

Preachers often quote Psalm 19 when they pray before a sermon, “May the words of my mouth…always be pleasing in your sight, O Lord…”  I don’t think that should be reserved for preachers alone. It’s a lesson we all learn as kids in various ways, yet many of us forget along the way. In an era when so many words are lobbed back and forth without care, or worse, with hateful intent, perhaps we could stand to meditate on the plethora (2,618 words, thank you) of insights on words provided by the ancient wisdom of the book of Proverbs (below). We could all stand to choose our words wisely and carefully these days, and to speak them in love whenever possible, no matter how many we use.

Tom +

Meditation on Proverbs (NLT):

• Evil words destroy one's friends; wise discernment rescues the godly.Proverbs 11:9
• It is foolish to belittle a neighbor; a person with good sense remains silent.  Proverbs 11:12
• Your own soul is nourished when you are kind, but you destroy yourself when you are cruel.  Proverbs 11:17
• A gentle answer turns away wrath, but hard words stir up anger.  Proverbs 15:1
• Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.  Proverbs 15:4
• Kind words are like honey – sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.  Proverbs 16:24
• A person’s words can be life-giving water; words of true wisdom are as refreshing as a bubbling brook.  Proverbs 18:4
• Words satisfy the soul as food satisfies the stomach; the right words on a person’s lips bring satisfaction.  Provers 18:20
• Wise speech is rarer and more valuable than gold and rubies.  Proverbs 10:15
• Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow. Proverbs 15:18

 Photo Credit: “Typing photo” used with permission by www.instructionalsolutions.com.